Malevolence - Where Only The Truth Is Spoken: Sheffield's Finest Hour. By Mark Jenkins.

 

Malevolence - Where Only The Truth Is Spoken: Sheffield's Finest Hour

Four albums in, and Malevolence are still finding new ways to make you feel like you've been hit by a freight train. Where Only The Truth Is Spoken isn't just their heaviest record—it's their most honest, and in the world of metalcore, where authenticity often gets lost in the breakdown, that matters more than you might think.

Truth in Advertising

Sheffield's metalcore kingpins have never been shy about wearing their hearts on their sleeves, but this album takes that vulnerability and weaponises it. From the moment Blood To The Leech kicks in, you can hear something different in Alex Taylor's delivery—there's a rawness here that feels less like performance and more like confession.

Working with producer Josh Wilbur (the man behind some of Lamb of God and Gojira's heaviest moments) was clearly the right call. The production captures every crushing detail without polishing away the band's essential grit. When those massive riffs hit in Trenches, you don't just hear them—you feel them in your chest.

More Than Just Heavy

What separates Malevolence from the metalcore pack isn't just their ability to write earth-shaking breakdowns (though they're very good at that). It's how they balance that crushing weight with genuine melody. Salt The Wound showcases this perfectly, shifting between delicate passages and explosive catharsis in ways that feel natural rather than forced.

The standout might be If It's All The Same To You, which arrives with some of the biggest hooks in the band's catalogue. It's anthemic without being cheesy, heavy without being mindless. When thousands of people are singing this at festivals, you'll remember where you first heard it.

Sheffield Steel

There's something distinctly Northern English about Malevolence's approach to heavy music. They've got that working-class directness that cuts through metalcore's tendency toward melodrama. When Taylor sings about honesty, loyalty, and integrity, it doesn't sound like posturing—it sounds like a manifesto.

The guest appearance from Lamb of God's Randy Blythe on In Spite could have felt like stunt casting, but instead it serves the song triumphantly. Two vocalists who understand that real heaviness comes from conviction, not just volume.

The Real Deal

In a genre often criticised for being all style and no substance, Malevolence prove that authenticity and crushing heaviness aren't mutually exclusive. Where Only The Truth Is Spoken works because it never feels like the band is trying to be anything other than exactly who they are—five guys from Sheffield who happen to write some of the most compelling metalcore of their generation.

By the album's end, you'll understand why Malevolence have become such a force in UK metal. They're not reinventing the wheel; they're just making it roll harder and truer than most bands dare to attempt.

The Verdict

This is Malevolence at their peak—confident, crushing, and completely authentic. If you've been waiting for a metalcore album that hits as hard emotionally as it does sonically, your wait is over.

Essential tracks: Blood To The Leech, If It's All The Same To You, Salt The Wound, In Spite (feat Randy Blythe)and Trenches.

For fans of: Desolated, Judiciary, (the heavier side of)Killswitch Engage and anyone who believes metalcore should actually mean something.

Sometimes the truth really is the heaviest thing of all.

Out June 20,2025:

https://malevolenceriff.bandcamp.com/album/where-only-the-truth-is-spoken

Get Antisocial and dive into all the links:

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Watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyTq7_gsZlM